Idiot or Awesome? Mayor Announces ‘Bigfoot Day’ And Search For Beast

In a move partly to satisfy curiosity but mostly to seek publicity, the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee has declared November 16 “Knox County Bigfoot Day.” Mayor Tim Burchet also welcomed the Discovery Channel’s “Finding Bigfoot” crew (and the show’s 1.7 million viewers) to “see how inviting [Knox County] is and what a great place it is to come and visit.”

Burchett will take the team to places of interest, and attempt to lure Bigfoot with the show’s “signature Sasquatch calls.” The mayor has long had a fascination with the mystical creature, despite a lack of evidence for its existence: “I have never seen oxygen, either, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to quit breathing.”

Idiot

What kind of tourism strategy is this? Is it even a tourism strategy at all, or is Burchett just using his time as a public official (and the city’s resources) to indulge his wonderment? The public might be better served by a “Harry and the Hendersons” marathon at a drive-in movie theater. What’s next, “Unicorn Day”? Bigfoot is not real!

Awesome

Hey, it’s free publicity for his town, which could inspire tourism and maybe even some new residents. Besides, a couple Utah campers recently recorded video of the creature — what they think is the creature, anyway — although the footage is awfully shaky. New species are discovered all the time, so why should we scoff at this one?